Glossary

The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

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The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

A view of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after the liberation of the camp. Bergen-Belsen, after April 15, 1945.

As it drove into Germany, the British 11th Armoured Division occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945. When the 11th Armoured Division entered the camp, its soldiers were totally unprepared for what they found. Inside were more than 60,000 emaciated and ill prisoners in desperate need of medical attention. More than 13,000 corpses in various stages of decomposition lay littered around the camp.